Endless elastomeric belts are used in hay balers, more specifically round hay balers, to compress and roll hay into compact cylindrical bundles. The belt is considered “endless” because it is formed as a continuous loop without a transverse joint. Typically, several of these belts are received around a series of rollers inside the hay baler. The belts are driven along the rollers so that hay introduced into the baler is compressed and rolled by the belts. It is noted that both surfaces of the belts contact the rollers.
Because each belt is formed as continuous loop, conventional belts are typically spliced. Various ways of splicing a belt have been utilized. For example, the belt may be spliced by using a “clipper lace” splice. A clipper lace splice uses a plurality of metal eyelets disposed one opposite ends of the belt and a rod is passed through the eyelets to secure the ends of the belt together and configure the belt into a continuous loop. The clipper lace splice has been shown to fail after a relatively small number of uses because contact between the eyelets and the roller in the bay haler cause the eyelets to thin and the splice eventually breaks. In another example, the belt may be spliced by using a “step” splice. This splice is formed by progressively cutting back plies along the length of the belt at each end of the belt so as to form steps at the ends. The ends are then mated together and held together by adhesive. A belt with a “step” splice has a larger thickness at the splice and usually has a relatively short flex life. The splice typically fails because the plies are cut and secured by adhesive.
The above-mentioned problems associated with splicing the belts have been alleviated by forming belts as a continuous loop with no splice. However, conventional “spliceless” belts tend to fail because wear around edges of the belt can expose cords of the belt. The location of an end of the cord is such that the cord end can easily be caught by the machining (e.g., a pulley). This can result in rapid failure of the belt.